US special envoy Amos Hochstein talks to reporters following his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon, on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Fadel Itani/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE
In a series of interviews on the day the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah officially went into effect, the main architect of the deal, White House Middle East envoy, Amos Hochstein, revealed and clarified many details about the agreement and the way it was reached.
“The moment was right. It culminated in about a week before the elections in the United States, at the end of October, Netanyahu asked for me to come out. We met, we decided this was the right time,” Hochstein told representatives from Jewish communities in America.
During the call, Hochstein said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the deal – a move that has been criticized by both coalition and opposition leaders – because the objective was not to dismantle Hezbollah but to establish conditions for the safe return of northern evacuees to their homes.
Speaking to Channel 12 news, the envoy said the IDF’s successes in southern Lebanon made Hezbollah reconsider its previous demand for a halt to the Gaza War as a condition for agreeing to a ceasefire.
In the same discussion, Hochstein was confronted with criticism by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who had called the deal a “total security-political failure” and argued that Israel should have insisted on keeping a security zone within Lebanese territory.
This was dismissed by Hochstein as a “fantasy.”
“Yes, there are fantasy deals that are utopia where you get a ceasefire agreement with a security zone, but those won’t ever happen,” Hochstein responded.
“If you choose to have a dead zone or a demilitarized zone, then you are there as an occupier, and you are not there in agreement; which means that while you may have two, three, four or five kilometers inside Lebanon, there won’t be an agreement to stop [Hezbollah from] shooting at Israel from longer ranges,” he contended.
When asked whether the Biden administration threatened more weapons embargoes, or to halt mediation efforts to pressure Israel into the agreement, Hochstein told Israel’s Channel 13 News, “There were no demands by the United States related to weapons or a veto at the UN. There were no threats whatsoever… Those ideas never came up in discussions at any point.”
Regarding the terms of the agreement, Hochstein argued that the deal’s enforcement mechanism would be more effective than the failed UN Resolution 1701, on which it is based.
“The failure of the 2006, 1701 agreement was that it was not implemented by anyone. [We] have learned that lesson and…we’re not going to allow [that] to repeat again,” he vowed.
For the first time, the United States will co-chair the negotiations alongside France. Hochstein added, “And we will make sure that any reports of violations are addressed immediately, are investigated, are monitored and are either deterred, stopped or ensure that they cannot happen again.”
With the ceasefire now in effect in Lebanon, Hochstein told the Jewish community that there is “an opportunity on the hostage deal” in Gaza.
“Everyone blames Israel, but as the president made clear, it is Hamas that has not returned to the discussion table for months. Now, the people of Hamas woke up at 04:00 in the morning and found that Hezbollah, who directly supported them, had made a deal and ended the war.”
“Israel is no longer distracted on two fronts, and Iran supported the cease-fire agreement, which means Hamas knows that there is a disconnection between the arena in Lebanon and the arena in Gaza,” he said.
On Wednesday, a “senior political source” disputed a comment by Hochstein in an interview with CNBC, where he characterized the ceasefire as a permanent agreement.
The source told Israeli media outlets, “Contrary to what was attributed to Hochstein, fighting can restart at any moment, as we saw today,” referring to several violations during the day .
The source added, “Israel will act firmly against any violation of the ceasefire, and is prepared militarily for any scenario.”
